HE 

DOCUMENTS 
DEPT. 


B    3    M5D    q?D 


L 


GIFT  OF 


J 


RAILWAY  MAIL  PAY 


AN  OUTLINE  OF 


The  Post  Office  Departments  Position 


'T'HIS  BOOKLET  is  issued  by  the  Post  Office  Department  in  response 

to  many  requests  from    individuals,   business    men,    publications, 

boards  of  trade,  and  Members  of  Congress  for  the  facts  relating  to  the 

proposed  change  in  the  method  of  adjusting  Railway  Mail  Pay. 


YT  tells  what  the  Railway  Mail  Transportation  Service  is,  what  the  pro- 
posed  law  seeks  to  accomplish,  and  it  shows — 

WHY  the  space  basis  is  preferable  to  the  weight  basis 
of  computing  pay — 

WHY  public  interest  demands  a  prompt  settlement  of 
the  question — 

WHY  the  new  rates  of  pay  proposed  by  the  Post  Office 
Department  are  just  and  reasonable — 

AND  it  answers  some  of  the  many  erroneous  statements  that  have  been 
circulated  about  this  question. 


POST  OFFICE  DEPARTMENT 
WASHINGTON:  1916 


THE  WEIGHT  BASIS    <f 


An  Antiquated,  Complex,  Unbusiness- 
like, Inequitable  System 


THE  law  now  governing  railway  mail  pay  provides  for  pay  on 
the  basis  of  the  average  daily  weights  of  mails  carried  over 
authorized  routes.  It  dates  back  to  1873. 
Maximum  rates  of  pay  are  prescribed  in  the  law.  These  are 
applicable  to  the  average  daily  weights  carried  upon  authorized 
mail  routes  ascertained  by  weighings  held  once  every  four  years. 
On  each  route  the  mails  are  weighed  for  a  period  of  105  successive 
days.  The  rates  are  arranged  on  a  sliding  scale,  whereby,  as  the 
weights  increase,  the  rates  decrease. 

The  country  is  divided  into  four  contract  sections  and  the  mails 
weighed  successively  in  each  section.  That  is  to  say,  while  a 
weighing  occurs  once  in  every  four  years  on  each  particular  route 
and  in  each  contract  section,  a  weighing  occurs  in  one  section 
each  year.  The  average  annual  cost  to  the  Department  for  weigh- 
ing the  mails  is  $250,000. 

In  addition  to  the  pay  for  weights  the  present  law  au- 
thorizes additional  pay  for  railway  post-office  cars,  40 
feet  and  more  in  length,  at  specified  rates.  This  constitutes 
partial  recognition  of  the  space  principle  as  a  proper  factor  in 
making  mail  transportation  rates. 

The  plan  of  1873  has  never  been  changed,  although  the  rates 
were  somewhat  reduced  by  Congress  in  1876,  1878  and  1907. 

The  weighings  are  costly  and  annoying,  ?nd  interfere 
seriously  with  the  operation  of  the  service  in  the  field. 
Compensation  thus  determined  is  not  fairly  distributed 
according  to  service  rendered.  The  system  lacks  the 
elasticity  to  meet  changing  conditions  and  fluctuations  of 
traffic,  that,  with  the  growth  of  the  parcel  post,  have  been 
frequent  and  far-reaching. 

Computation  of  pay  under  the  old  law  with  its  several 
amendments  is  a  complex  process,  little  understood,  and 
productive  of  endless  and  vexatious  disputes. 

The  whole  plan  is  unscientific,  inequitable  in  results, 
and  needlessly  complex. 

(2) 


THE  SPACE  BASIS 


A  Simple,  Practical,  Accurate,  Just 

Method 


AS  far  back  as  1876  so  much  dissatisfaction  with  the 
weight  system  of  determining  railway  mail  pay  ex- 
isted that  Congress  provided  for  a  commission,  to  be 
appointed  by  the  President,  to  investigate  the  subject.  A 
succession  of  inquiries  by  Congressional  commissions,  by  ap- 
pointive commissions,  and  by  the  Post  Office  Department 
have  followed. 

Practically  every  such  investigation,  including  that 
made  by  the  Joint  Committee  of  Congress  which 
reported  in  1914,  resulted  in  the  conclusion  that  the  pres- 
ent system  is  inadequate,  complex,  cumbersome,  and  un- 
businesslike, and  in  recommendations  for  the  substi- 
tution either  in  whole  or  in  part  of  the  space  basis 
for  the  weight  basis. 

Hauling  a  Car  One  Mile 
Made  "  Unit  of  Service." 

The  space  method  now  proposed  by  the  Post  Office  De- 
partment adopts  the  "  car-mile  unit  of  service"  as  the  basis 
upon  which  to  make  authorizations  of  and  payments  for  the 
major  part  of  the  railroad  mail  service.  This  would  mean 
rates  of  pay — which  have  been  ascertained  after  thorough 
inquiry  to  be  fair  rates — for  hauling  standard  full  railway 
post-office,  apartment,  and  storage  mail  cars  one  mile. 

The  new  plan  contemplates  additional  compensation  in 
the  form  of  terminal  allowances  for  services  not  covered  by 
the  space  payment,  representing  charges  for  loading  mails, 
and  for  heating,  lighting,  cleaning,  and  switching  mail  cars 
at  the  terminals  of  car  runs  and  provides  for  the  retention 
of  the  weight  basis  for  "closed-pouch  service."  The  latter 
comprises  a  very  small  per  cent  of  the  mail  traffic  and  re- 
quires so  little  space  in  trains  and  fluctuates  in  quantity  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  space  system  could  not  be  easily 
adapted  to  it.  By  far,  the  bulk  of  mail  pay  would  be  deter- 
mined by  the  space-and-distance  gauge. 

(3) 


345840 


Differing  Rates  for 
Various  Typos  of  Car. 

The  standard  mail  car  is  60  feet  long,  and  is  usually  9  feet 
wide  and  8£-  feet  high,  inside  measurements.  Only  the 
length  is  to  figure,  however,  in  determining  pay. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  full  mail  cars — railway  post-office 
cars  and  mail-storage  cars. 

The  former,  as  the  name  signifies,  are  traveling  post  offices 
in  which  the  mail  is  "worked" — that  is,  opened,  distrib- 
uted, assembled  in  packages  or  bags  for  individual  post 
offices,  other  railway  routes,  and  for  stations  and  carrier 
routes  in  large  cities.  When  an  entire  car  is  thus  utilized, 
it  is  called  a  "full  railway  post-office  car." 

The  storage  cars,  as  the  name  also  implies,  are  traveling 
storehouses  in  which  the  mail  is  stored  before  and  after 
being  worked  or  for  through  carriage. 

The  railway  post-office  cars  are  equipped  by  the  railroad 
companies,  and  must  be  heated  and  lighted  while  en  route 
at  the  expense  of  the  railroads.  These  expenses  do  not 
apply  in  the  same  degree  to  storage  cars,  which  require  only 
light  and  heat  in  a  limited  degree  and  provision  for  making 
stall  separations.  Hence,  for  R.  P.  O.  car  service,  as  it  is 
called,  a  somewhat  higher  rate  of  pay  should  be  allowed 
than  for  storage-car  service.  This  is  amply  provided  for  in 
the  scale  of  rates  proposed. 

Apartment  Cars  Get 
Proportionate  Rates. 

The  volume  of  mail  passing  over  the  thousands  of  railway 
mail  routes  varies.     On  the  heavy  routes — New  York  to 

Chicago,  New  York  to  St.  Louis,  etc a  number  of  full  cars 

and  storage  cars  are  needed  each  trip.  On  other  routes  one 
full  car,  with  or  without  a  storage  car,  meets  the  need.  On 
the  majority  of  routes  a  half  car  or  a  quarter  car  suffices.  To 
fit  this  condition  a  third  class  of  railway  mail  car  service  is 
operated,  known  as  apartment-car  service.  This  requires 
combination  cars,  used  in  part  for  mail  and  in  part  for  bag- 
gage or  other  railway  business.  At  present  these  are  of 
various  lengths,  but  the  proposed  law  provides  for  two  stand- 
ard sizes,  viz.,  30  feet  and  15  feet. 

Under  the  space  system  apartment-car  service  would  be 
paid  for  at  a  rate  proportionate  to  the  full-car  rate ;  for  a 
30-foot  apartment,  one-half  the  full-car  pay ;  for  a  15-foot 
apartment,  slightly  more  than  one-fourth  the  full-car  rate. 

(4) 


Closed-Pouch  Service 
Retains  Weight  Basis. 

"Closed-pouch"  service  is  the  carriage  of  United  States 
mail  pouches  locked  or  sealed  containing  letter  and  paper 
mail,  or  sacks  containing  paper  mail  only,  transported  over  a 
route  without  breaking  bulk.  As  performed  by  the  railroads 
this  service  consists  of  the  transportation  of  one,  two,  three, 
or  more  closed  mail  bags  over  routes  or  on  trains  upon  which 
the  mail  traffic  is  not  heavy  enough  to  require  special  ac- 
commodations for  distribution  en  route.  These  mails  are 
in  the  custody  of  the  baggageman,  who  receives  and  de- 
livers them  without  the  intervention  of  postal  employees. 

Manifestly,  because  of  its  fluctuating  character  and  the 
fact  that  in  many  cases  the  mail  involved  consists  of  simply 
a  pouch  or  sack,  computation  of  pay  for  closed-pouch  service 
on  the  space  basis  would  be  exceedingly  difficult;  hence  the 
retention  of  the  weight  basis  for  this  class  of  business.  It 
is  provided  that  the  weighings  of  closed-pouch  mails  and  re- 
adjustment of  pay  for  their  carriage  shall  be  made  annually 
instead  of  quadrennially  as  at  present.  The  annual  weigh- 
ing, it  is  estimated,  will  cost  the  Post  Office  Department 
about  $100,000. 

New  Plan  Failed  Last 

Year  By  a  Narrow  Margin. 

The  desirability  of  a  revision  of  the  laws  govern- 
ing railway  mail  pay  has  been  recognized  by  pos- 
tal administrations  for  many  years,  but  no  definite 
proposition  was  presented  to  Congress  until  August,  1911, 
when  the  Department  reported  the  results  of  an  exhaustive 
inquiry  commenced  in  1907,  and  submitted  a  tentative  plan 
for  revising  the  laws  upon  the  basis  of  space,  with  rates 
based  upon  the  cost  of  the  service  to  the  companies  plus  a 
reasonable  rate  of  profit. 

Subsequent  study  and  further  information  obtained  during 
the  progress  of  the  investigations  of  the  Joint  Congressional 
Committee  having  demonstrated  that  the  cost  basis  was  im- 
practicable under  present  conditions,  the  Department 
changed  its  view  and  submitted  a  new  plan  essentially  iden- 
tical with  the  proposed  law  now  advocated. 

In  June,  1914,  this  plan  was  presented  by  the  Chairman 
of  the  House  Committee  on  Post  Offices  and  Post  Roads, 
Hon.  John  A.  Moon.  Hearings  on  this  bill  were  had  before 
the  proper  committees  of  Congress. 

(5) 


Passed  the  House  Twice ; 
Agreed  to  in  Conference. 

Twice,  by  large  majorities,  the  House,  in  August,  1914, 
and  January,  1915,  approved  the  plan  proposed  by  the  Post 
Office  Department.  This  plan  carried  the  essential  features 
of  the  recommendation  of  the  Joint  Congressional  Com- 
mittee for  a  change  to  the  space  basis,  except  that  it  pro- 
vided for  retaining  the  weight  basis  for  closed-pouch  serv- 
ice. The  Joint  Committee  advocated  the  space  basis  for 
all  service.  The  plan  provided  for  a  scale  of  pay  exceedingly 
liberal  in  the  light  of  every  factor  that  justly  enters  into 
the  question  of  fixing  reasonable  compensation  for  carrying 
the  mails,  and  assured  the  railroads  a  somewhat  larger 
revenue  per  car  mile  for  carrying  the  mails  than  they  are 
now  receiving. 

On  the  occasion  of  its  first  passage  in  the  House,  the  mail- 
pay  measure  was  incorporated,  along  with  other  needed 
postal  legislation,  in  the  Moon  Bill.  Because  of  the  conges- 
tion of  legislation  during  the  short  session,  it  became 
apparent  that  the  Moon  Bill  could  not  be  enacted,  and, 
hence,  the  mail-pay  section  of  the  Moon  Bill  was  incorpo- 
rated in  the  annual  post-office  appropriation  bill. 

In  essentials,  the  Department's  plan  was  agreed  to 
in  the  Conference  Committee  of  House  and  Senate 
upon  the  appropriation  ;  but  a  final  vote  upon  the 
Conference  Committee's  report  was  not  reached  in 
the  Senate. 

New  Rates  Compensate 
All  Classes  of  Service. 

Under  the  Department  bill,  the  rates  of  railway  mail  pay 
are  divided  into  two  classes:  (1)  car-mile  line  rates;  (2) 
initial  and  terminal  rates. 

The  former  provide  compensation  for  hauling  the  different 
sizes  of  standard  mail  cars  and  will  constitute  the  bulk  of 
the  pay.  The  latter  cover  expenses  of  loading  and  unload- 
ing mails,  switching,  heating,  lighting,  and  cleaning  cars 
and  other  station  expenses  at  the  termini  of  the  car  runs. 

This  division  of  compensation  into  two  parts,  one  of 
which  provides  special  allowances  for  costs  of  terminal 
station  service  at  points  of  origin  and  destination  on  all 
runs  regardless  of  distance,  for  the  first  time  allots  pay  with 
equitable  recognition  of  long  and  short  hauls.  Initial  and 
terminal  costs  vary  little,  whether  the  car  run  is  100  miles 

(6) 


or  1000  miles.  The  terminal  allowances  which  are  the  same 
regardless  of  the  length  of  car  run  will  increase  the  pay  per 
mile  according  to  the  length  of  run,  the  longer  the  trip  the 
smaller  the  increase  per  mile. 

The  following  is  a  schedule  of  rates  proposed  by  the  Post 
Office  Department : 

CAR-MILE  LINE  RATES. 


Class. 

Unit. 

Car-mile 
rate. 

Full  R.  P.  O.  cars 

6^-foot  cars 

$0.21 

Apartment  cars  __ 

30-foot  apartment.   

.10  %. 
.05)4 

Apartment  cars.. 

15-foot  apartment.  

Storage  cars 

60-foot  cars 

.20 

INITIAL  AND  TERMINAL  RATES. 

Class. 

Unit. 

Initial  and 
terminal  al- 
lowance per 

single  trip. 

Full  R.  R  O.  cars 

60- foot  cars 

$4.00 

Apartment  cars 

30-foot  cars.  .  

15-foot  cars  . 

2.00 

Apartment  cars. 

1.00 

Storage  ears.,  

30-foot  cars 

4.00 

Passenger  Revenue  Less  10 
Per  Cent  Is  Basis  of  Rates. 

The  car-mile  line  rates  are  based  primarily  upon  the  aver- 
age car-mile  revenue  earned  by  the  passenger  service  of  the 
country  as  reported  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
with  a  suitable  reduction  to  offset  the  difference  in  char- 
acter between  passenger  and  mail  services.  Many  consid- 
erations applying  to  the  carriage  of  the  mails  do  not  apply 
to  the  carriage  of  passengers,  and  facilities  furnished  by 
the  railroads  for  passenger  service  differ  materially  from 
facilities  furnished  for  mail  service. 

There  is  no  justification  for  the  claim  that  the 
mail  service  should  participate  fully  in  the  enor- 
mous costs  of  elaborate  terminals  and  station  struct- 
ures. The  mails  neither  seek  nor  need  housing  in 
$100,000,000  buildings  ;  in  fact,  the  least  expensive 
parts  of  stations  are  devoted  to  the  mails,  and  very 
rightly  so. 

The  initial  and  terminal  rates  are  based  upon  estimates 
of  the  initial  and  terminal  costs  —  loading,  unloading, 
switching,  etc.,  as  stated  above. 

(7) 


The  New  Schedule  Is 
Result  of  Long  Study. 

The  determination  of  the  rates  was  a  most  difficult 
problem.  Numerous  bases  were  suggested,  considered,  and 
rejected. 

The  conclusion  was  reached  after  long  and  thorough 
inquiry  that  a  10  per  cent  reduction  would  approximately 
represent  the  proper  difference  between  the  passenger- 
service  revenue  and  an  adequate  mail  revenue. 

Applied  to  25.43  cents,  the  passenger-car-mile  revenue 
for  1911  (the  latest  figure  available  at  the  time  the  rates 
were  constructed),  the  10  per  cent  reduction  produced  22.89 
cents  as  a  fair  mail  revenue  per  60-foot  car  mile.  Applied 
to  the  passenger  car-mile  revenue  for  1912,  24.29  cents,  the 
result  is  21.87  cents.  The  60-foot  car-mile  revenue  received 
by  the  railroads  at  the  rates  provided  in  the  Department 
bill,  based  upon  the  service  estimated  as  being  necessary 
for  the  fiscal  year  of  1915,  would  be  22.96  cents. 

Total  Pay  Would  Be 
Increased  By  Change. 

The  total  mail  pay  upon  the  present  basis,  including  both 
pay  for  weight  and  pay  for  space,  for  the  fiscal  year  of  1915, 
was  more  than  fifty-nine  million  dollars.  The  rates  carried 
in  the  proposed  law  would  have  resulted  in  a  payment  for 
that  year  of  about  sixty-two  million  dollars,  estimated  on 
the  basis  of  the  service  in  operation.  For  service  as  of 
present  date  the  expenditure  would  probably  be  somewhat 
greater,  although  legitimate  economies  in  the  way  of  con- 
centrated loading  and  dispatches  and  along  other  lines 
would,  it  is  believed,  tend  to  reduce  such  increase  materially 

Although  the  facts  would  warrant  a  reduction  of 
railway  mail  compensation,  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment has  not   advocated  this   action. 

"Not  Exceeding"  Clause 
Is  Unjustly  Attacked. 

The  proposed  law  authorizes  the  Postmaster  General  to 
pay  not  exceeding  the  rates  specified  in  it. 

The  railroads  have  contended  that  this  and  other  phrase- 
ology of  the  bill  give  the  Postmaster  General  arbitrary  rate- 
making  power  which,  it  is  insinuated,  he  would  use  to 
compel  the  roads  to  carry  the  mails  for  less  than  the  maxi- 

(8) 


mum  rates  designated.  By  inference,  the  charge  is  made 
that  the  Postmaster  General  is  seeking  power  he  does  not 
now  possess,  and  it  has  been  declared  in  so  many  words  that 
he  would  use  this  power  to  oppress  the  railroads. 

In  every  law  enacted  by  Congress  on  the  subject  of  rail- 
way mail  pay,  since  Congress  first  legislated  seventy-seven 
years  ago  in  regard  to  the  carriage  of  mails  on  railroads 
(July  7,  1838),  the  Postmaster  General  has  been  given  free 
and  full  power  to  contract  with  a  railroad  for  the  carriage 
of  mails  at  any  rate  -within  the  maximum  rates  named 
in  the  several  laws  if  he  should  be  able  to  do  so. 

During  the  life  of  the  present  railway  mail  pay  statute, 
passed  in  1873,  no  Postmaster  General  has  arbitrarily 
reduced  rates,  though  under  the  law  he  has  had  full  power 
to  do  so.  The  history  of  the  service  for  the  last  forty  years 
sufficiently  refutes  the  charge  that  the  inclusion  of  the 
words  not  exceeding  will  give  the  Postmaster  General 
power  which  he  would  use  in  an  autocratic  or  unfair 
manner. 

Operates  to  Protect 
Department  and  Roads 

The  flexibility  of  the  provision  "  not  exceeding  "  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  practical  administration,  and  works 
both  in  the  interest  of  the  Government  and  many  of  the  rail- 
roads. If  rates  were  absolutely  fixed,  the  Govern- 
ment would  be  compelled  to  use  the  short  line  be- 
tween the  large  mailing  centers  and  could  not  give 
the  competing  roads  having  longer  lines  the  privi- 
lege, as  is  done  now,  of  hauling  a  part  of  the  mails 
at  the  rate  for  the  short  line. 

Also,  if  the  rates  were  inflexible  there  would  be  innumer- 
able instances  in  the  conduct  of  the  service  involving  dis- 
putes between  the  railroad  companies  and  the  Department 
as  to  the  precise  amount  due  for  service,  and  the  usual 
order  of  the  Postmaster  General,  which,  if  it  fixes  the  rate 
within  the  maximum  prescribed  by  law,  has  been  held  by 
the  courts  to  be  final,  would  onty  mark  the  beginning  of 
numerous  and  vexatious  lawsuits. 

What  Mail  Pay  Means 
To  Parcel-Post  Service. 

In  little  more  than  two  years  the  parcel  post  has  grown 
so   rapidly   that    its    annual    traffic    is   now   estimated   at 

(9) 


1,000,000,000  parcels  a  year.  This  expansion  demonstrates 
the  public  need  and  demand  in  this  country  for  a  service 
which  for  years  has  been  provided  in  every  other  advanced 
nation  on  earth. 

This  tremendous  burden  of  service  has  been  successfully 
assumed  by  the  postal  establishment  and  is  being  performed 
at  a  margin  of  profit  for  the  government  notwithstanding 
the  inordinately  heavy  transportation  costs  —  at  times 
amounting  to  double  the  transportation  costs  borne  by  the 
express  companies  upon  a  great  part  of  their  traffic — which 
the  government  has  been  compelled  to  shoulder. 

In  the  face  of  the  unequal  conditions,  the  Govern- 
ment is  doing  an  enormous  parcel  business  at 
charges  to  the  public  much  lower  on  the  whole  than 
were  made  by  the  express  companies  before  the 
coming  of  the  parcel  post,  and  is  giving  express 
facilities  alike  to  practically  every  township,  hamlet, 
village,  and  city,  great  or  small,  in  the  United  States. 


UPON  the  majority  of  these  great  mail  routes,  mail  and  express 
transportation  conditions  are  practically  identical.  The  cost  to 
the  railroads  of  the  incidental  services  rendered  in  transporting  the 
mails  on  these  routes  is  inconsiderable  as  compared  with  the  great  disparity 
in  the  returns  from  the  two  services.  It  follows  from  the  inequality  of 
transportation  costs  that  the  parcel  post  rates  to  the  public,  for  the  higher 
weights,  greatly  exceed  the  express  rates.  Between  New  York  and 
Chicago,  parcel  postage  is  $1.20  for  twenty  pounds,  as  compared  with 
an  express  rate  of  sixty-eight  cents.  A  more  equitable  scale  of  mail  pay 
would  make  possible  a  readjustment  of  parcel  postage  upon  the  higher 
weights  and  long  hauls,  would  expand  the  public's  transportation  facili- 
ties and  would  still  give  the  railroads  adequate  compensation  under 
their  own  standard  of  what  constitutes  adequate  compensation— to  wit,  a 
"commercial  rate." 


*   * 

THE  railroads  are  receiving  from  the  government  amounts  which,  for 
hauls  of  any  considerable  length,  exceed  by  about  two  to  one  the 
amounts  they  receive  from  the  express  companies  for  like  and 
similar  service. 


(10) 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THE 
SPACE  BASIS 

Increase  of  Service  Is  Automatically 
Paid  for— Justice  to  AH  the  Rail- 
roads— Better  Facilities  for  Hand- 
ling Parcel-Post  Matter  Assured 

UNDER  the  space  basis  of  payment  provided  in  the 
Moon  Bill  and  in  the  appropriation  bill,  and  agreed 
to  by  the  Conference  Committee  on  the  latter, 
fluctuations  in  service  would  be  promptly  recognized  and 
compensated. 

If  the  expansion  of  the  parcel  post  resulted  in  need  of 
additional  space,  it  would  be  paid  for.  At  the  same  time  the 
Department  would  have  opportunity  for  economies  in  the 
utilization  of  the  authorized  space  to  its  maximum  capacity, 
which  entirely  proper  action  would  work  no  injustice  to  the 
railroad  companies  because  they  would  still  be  paid  for  all 
space  provided. 

It  is  the  belief  of  the  Department  officials,  and  of  many 
railroad  officials  as  well,  that  the  space  plan  would  enable  all 
service  furnished  according  to  the  needs  to  be  properly 
compensated;  in  other  words,  the  Department  would  pay 
for  what  it  receives,  and  the  railroads  would  receive 
pay  for  all  service  furnished. 

Square  Deal  Assured 
to  All  the  Railroads. 

Under  the  space  plan,  each  company  will  receive  compen- 
sation for  all  service  performed  by  it,  and  changes  in  service 
requiring  additional  space  wiU  be  immediately  recognized 
by  authorization  of  additional  space  and  pay.  This  will 
eliminate  complaints  regarding  cases  wherein  heavy  diver- 
sions of  mail  are  made  from  one  route  to  another  without 
changes  in  pay,  which  are  continually  occurring  under  the 
existing  weight  system. 

Under  the  present  law  it  is  often  asserted  that  the  pay  is 
inequitable  between  companies,  in  that  there  may  be  two 
routes  carrying  the  same  weight  of  mail  upon  one  of  which 

(11) 


the  space  and  facilities  required  may  greatly  exceed  those 
required  on  the  other  route,  notwithstanding  which  each 
company  receives  the  same  pay.  The  new  plan  will  correct 
inequalities  of  this  kind. 

Existing  Rates  Pay  for 

Four- Year  Increase  of  Mail. 

Under  the  present  law,  one  of  the  principal  complaints  of 
the  companies  has  been  that  during  the  four-year  period 
between  adjustments  the  increased  weights  of  mails  carried 
by  them  are  transported  without  compensation.  The  rail- 
roads advance  this  as  their  principal  argument  for  annual 
instead  of  quadrennial  weighings,  asserting  that  it  is 
inequitable  and  unjust  to  require  them  to  carry  the  accre- 
tions without  additional  pay. 

The  Department  has  taken  the  position  that  the  rates 
provided  in  the  existing  law  were  fixed  high  enough  to  cover 
the  increased  regular  mails  to  be  carried  during  the  term. 
Nevertheless  cases  have  arisen  where  schedule  changes  or 
unusual  conditions  have  resulted  in  diverting  to  a  line  a 
considerable  quantity  of  mails  not  theretofore  carried  and 
not  weighed  on  that  line,  with  a  corresponding  reduction  in 
weights  carried  on  the  line  from  which  diverted.  Unless 
the  weights  diverted  equal  at  least  10  per  cent  of  the  average 
daily  weight  on  any  of  the  routes  involved,  the  Department 
is  without  authority  to  restate  the  pay  and  correct  the 
inequity. 

The  proposed  law  corrects  these  inequalities,  and  the 
administration  of  the  service  under  its  provisions  wiU  enable 
the  Department  to  compensate  the  railroads  for  all  service 
performed.  Fluctuations  in  the  volume  of  mail  which 
require  the  furnishing  of  a  greater  or  lesser  amount  of 
space  than  regularly  authorized  can  be  met  by  the  authori- 
zation on  lines  where  such  conditions  obtain  of  a  certain 
amount  of  space  beyond  the  regular  authorizations  to  be 
used  and  paid  for  when  needed.  This  extra  space  would, 
of  course,  not  be  used  if  surplus  space  is  available  on 
another  line  affording  equal  service  for  the  mails  involved. 

Saves  $600,000  a  Year 
on  Returning  Equipment. 

There  is  usually  a  preponderance  of  mail  tonnage  in  one 
direction  and  the  space  required  in  that  direction  is  neces- 
sarily greater  than  is  needed  in  the  return  movement. 
Under  the  provisions  of  the  proposed  law,  the  maximum 

(12) 


space  needed  in  either  direction  is  to  be  determinative  of 
the  space  to  be  paid  for  in  return. 

On  account  of  the  heavier  movement  of  mails  in  one 
direction  the  equipment  used  to  enclose  the  mails  naturally 
accumulates,  after  use,  at  points  remote  from  the  centers 
where  the  mails  originate.  Under  existing  law,  this  equip- 
ment is  returned  to  points  where  needed  by  freight  at 
considerably  less  expense  than  if  returned  by  mail.  The 
annual  cost  of  such  service  aggregates  about  $600,000. 

Under  the  new  plan,  which  specifies  that  the  companies 
shall  be  paid  for  the  round-trip  movement  of  a  car  of  the 
maximum  size  needed  in  either  direction,  there  will  probably 
be  a  surplus  of  unused  space  available  in  the  return  move- 
ment which  may  be  utilized  for  the  carriage  of  a  greater 
part,  if  not  aU,  of  this  returning  empty  equipment  without 
additional  cost  and  with  a  saving  of  its  transportation  cost 
by  freight.  Other  opportunities  for  the  use  of  return 
empty  space  paid  for  and  not  needed  for  mails  will  no  doubt 
present  themselves  in  the  carriage  of  supplies  and  stamped 
paper  for  the  service,  and  of  periodicals  now  sent  by  fast 
freight. 

Cars  Will  Be  Used 
to  Their  Capacity. 

The  tendency  under  the  space  plan  will  be  to  load  autho- 
rized cars  to  the  maximum  consistent  with  the  conditions 
required  for  distribution  and  handling.  Under  the  weight 
basis,  where  the  weight  is  paid  for  no  matter  whether 
transported  in  postal  cars,  baggage  cars  or  storage  cars, 
the  tendency  is  to  relieve  the  distributing  cars  wherever 
possible  and  carry  mails  in  baggage  or  storage  cars. 

Under  the  space  basis  the  space  in  the  authorized  R.  P.  O. 
cars  will  be  utilized  to  capacity  before  authorizing  addi- 
tional space  in  storage  or  baggage  cars,  thus  relieving  the 
baggage  cars  of  their  loads.  The  new  plan  also  affords 
opportunity  for  consolidating  mails  for  transportation 
between  large  centers  where  more  than  one  line  is  available 
and  the  utilization  of  all  authorized  space  to  capacity  before 
it  will  be  necessary  to  authorize  additional  space  for 
additional  mails. 

In  cases  where  several  partly  loaded  cars  are  now  carry- 
ing the  mails,  it  will  be  practicable  to  concentrate  the  mails 
in  a  less  number  of  cars,  thus  securing  the  most  economical 
loading  and  reducing  the  car  mileage  to  be  paid  for  to  the 
minimum.  This  will  provide  an  entirely  proper  economy 
with  no  burden  on  the  railroads. 

(13) 


POSTAL  EXPRESS  SHIPMENTS 


Empty  Mail  Bags  Shipped  by  Express  to 
Avoid  the  High  Mail  Rate 


rTlHE  Department  is  authorized  by  law  to  ship  by  mail  from  No- 
*  vember  15  to  January  15  empty  mail  bags  ordinarily  sent  by 
freight.  Mail  bags  may  go  by  express  at  any  time,  but  are  cus- 
tomarily shipped  by  freight  Unless  an  emergency  arises,  as  the 
express  rate  is  usually  more  than  double  that  of  the  freight  rate. 
During  the  recent  holiday  period  it  was  found  that  shipments 
could  be  made  by  express  at  a  lower  rate  than  by  mail  between 
many  points,  and  the  express  service  was  utilized  to  a  consider- 
able extent  at  an  average  saving  of  37i  cents  per  hundred  pounds 
over  the  cost  had  they  been  sent  in  mail  trains,  and  the  railroad 
companies  get  only  50  per  cent  of  the  express  rate. 


The  following  table  shows  some  of  the  points  between  which  the  Department  shipped  mail  bags 
by  express  during  the  holiday  season  of  1915,  the  mail  and  express  rates,  and  the  amount  saved 
in  each  case  by  using  express: 


Points. 


Rates  per 
100  pounds. 


Express       Mail 
rate.  rate. 


Excess 
of  mail 

rate 
over  ex- 
press 
rate. 


Amount 
saved. 


Burlington,  Vt.-Boston,  Mass 

Cincinnati,  Ohio-Washington,  D.  C 

Corinth,  Miss. -Mobile,  Ala 

Corinth,  Miss. -Nashville,  Tenn 

Corning-,  N.  Y. -Boston,  Mass 

Decatur,  111. -Chicago,  111 

Elmira,  N.  Y.-Boston,  Mass 

Hornell,  N.  Y.-Boston,  Mass 

Hornell,  N.  Y. -New  York,  N   Y 

Huron,  S.  Dak. -St.  Paul,  Minn 

New  York,  N,  Y.-Chicago,  111 

Ohio  City,  Ohio-Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Parkersburg,  W.  Va.-New  York,  N.  Y. 
Parker sburg,  W.  Va. -Pittsburgh,  Pa  .. 

Phoenix,  Ariz. -Kansas  City,  Mo 

Rouses  Point,  N.  Y.-Boston,  Mass 

Rutland,  Vt.-Boston,  Mass 

Salida,  Colo. -St.  Louis,  Mo 

Vanceboro,  Maine-Boston,  Mass 

Watertown,  N.  Y.-Boston,  Mass 

Watertown,  N.  Y.-New  York,  N.  Y 


$1.15 
1.90 
1.55 
1.55 
1.50 
1.00 
1.25 
1.50 
1.30 
1.80 
2.40 

.75 
1.90 
1.00 
6.50 
1.15 

.90 
4.65 
1.50 
1.25 
1.20 


$1.52 
2.07 
2.08 
2.79 
1.86 
1.09 
1.79 
2.04 
1.37 
4.95 
2.51 
1.99 
1.93 
1.10 
6.85 
1.40 
1.08 
7.40 
1.59 
1.49 
1.31 


$0.37 
.17 
.53 

1.24 
.36 
.09 
.54 
.54 
.07 

3.15 
.11 

1.24 
.03 
.10 
.35 
.25 
.18 

2.75 
.09 
.24 
.11 


$16.17 

4.07 
42.22 
194.74 
32.65 
43.64 
65.70 
176.33 

4.19 

45.08 

29.92 

117.47 

3.72 
18.01 
17.98 

7.74 
18.51 
81.36 

4.99 
81.36 

8.34 

$1,014.19 


(14) 


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(15) 


THE  SPACE  BASIS 


ELIMINATES  Troublesome  and  Expensive  Weighing — 

PROVIDES  A  System  of  Rates  Definite  and  Understandable— 

UTILIZES  Facilities  Paid  for  to  Maximum  Capacity — 

PAYS  For  Service  Actually  Rendered  and  for  Space  Furnished — 

AND 

WILL  ENABLE  THE  DEPARTMENT  TO  PROCEED  WITH 
ITS  PLANS  FOR  THE  EXPANSION  OF  THE 
PARCEL  POST. 


